ommunimuni wrote:I have been so inspired by all of your photos that I thought I would upload my own.
All ready for Vesak Day here in Malaysia tomorrow.

With Metta,

Beautiful!

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.”
- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:
in mountain clefts and chasms,
loud gush the streamlets,
but great rivers flow silently.
- Sutta Nipata 3.725

Hello all, I am new to the forums. A bit more zen-oriented, but nonetheless here it is.

I was born naked.
My beloved parents
kindly gave me a name.
When I reached twenty
I thought "a name is a chain,
I want to abandon it".
Whoever I questioned
No one answers me.
When I hear the wind in the pines
I get an answer.

I was born naked.
My beloved parents
kindly gave me a name.
When I reached twenty
I thought "a name is a chain,
I want to abandon it".
Whoever I questioned
No one answers me.
When I hear the wind in the pines
I get an answer.

I was born naked.
My beloved parents
kindly gave me a name.
When I reached twenty
I thought "a name is a chain,
I want to abandon it".
Whoever I questioned
No one answers me.
When I hear the wind in the pines
I get an answer.

Our little shrine consists of a small Gandharan Buddha from Afghanistan, made in the 2nd century (if the art dealer is to be believed). It is made from pink schist, and was once part of a frieze. My 17 year-old son helped in the design and construction of the stand.

My wife added the orange. She was raised Catholic in a very remote village in Mexico where Christianity is but a thin veneer over the much more ancient indigenous religion. When our Buddha appeared on the wall, she instinctively began making the standard offerings of fruit and copal incense, as she does with the various saints that already populate our home.

Hiker wrote:Our little shrine consists of a small Gandharan Buddha from Afghanistan, made in the 2nd century (if the art dealer is to be believed). It is made from pink schist, and was once part of a frieze. My 17 year-old son helped in the design and construction of the stand.

My wife added the orange. She was raised Catholic in a very remote village in Mexico where Christianity is but a thin veneer over the much more ancient indigenous religion. When our Buddha appeared on the wall, she instinctively began making the standard offerings of fruit and copal incense, as she does with the various saints that already populate our home.

Absolutely wonderful shrine, my friend, regardless of how much we trust the art dealer.

My shrine and meditation area has received some updates since Christmas as a result of some generous gifts from family and friends (Thank you!).
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The new rupa required the creation of a sort of stand on which to sit, which was mostly "recycled." My wife was kind enough to help me figure out a way to hang the dharmachakra image behind the new rupa. I'll eventually get something else on which to put my parents' and grandpa's picture, but for now the old folding table will be OK.

Clearly I have more books than I can properly store on the smallish bookshelf... I'm going to have to offer some of them on here or on Dharma Wheel when I get a moment -- most of them are Mahayana texts I don't think I'll re-read so it does seem a little cluttered at the moment.

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Ajahn Chah is featured prominently now -- I've recently realized just how important his having taught the Dhamma has been to me as many Dhamma books I've read (minus the Nikayas themselves) have been written by monks who trained under him (some have been recounts of teachings given by Chah himself). The monks represented on the bottom row are, going left to right: Bhikkhu Bodhi, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Ajahn Amaro, Ajahn Brahm, Ajahn Sumedho, and Thích Nhất Hạnh. Some may also recognize the Chanting Guide as the same one offered so kindly by Metta Forest Monastery in California.

It is always skillful to remember how much we have been helped by those who wear the robes.